Insurance is a clever concept. And simple enough for first principle logic. But, somewhere along the way, the delivery of this service to the actual people it is meant to benefit has become tangled in bureaucracy, which often leads to miscommunications and disempowerment. In Vietnam, knowledge of insurance is nascent, despite it being a rapidly evolving market for financial services. 

Our client, a leading multinational insurance firm, was facing a challenge: to match the level of their customer service delivery with their aggressive growth. It was a complex balancing act that called for a deep understanding of human behaviour through a cultural and social lens.

“My sister’s agent left, but [the insurance firm] didn’t tell her. When she was in an accident and wanted to claim, she couldn’t contact her agent. She called the hotline and only then, she got a new agent to help her. We should be informed earlier.”
‍_Customer

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Unearthing the real cause of problems, beyond the symptoms 

AGENCY spent three weeks in four cities in Vietnam to find out what a great service experience looked and felt like for customers. By simply walking hand-in-hand with them – not only through financial service experiences, but also in their daily lives – we were able to glean context about what shapes their behaviour. How do they live? What do they aspire to? How do they communicate? What do they value?

Only then were we able to understand how insurance could be contextualised to fit their lives and their needs.

“No one has been able to tell me why [insurance] is important. No information speaks to me, and the agents keep calling me three-four times a day! There are no facts. Only sales.”
‍_Customer

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Translating a service to be equally meaningful across cultures

Designing for humans calls for a deep understanding of context. We also learned from our research – in customers' homes and in cafes over coffee – how values like respect, care, trust, reassurance, and autonomy were expressed in Vietnam. 

For example, a sketch concept (used to provoke responses) inspired by the Apple Genius Bar, in which customers initiate a consultation by walking up to the Bar, unanimously tested poorly. The act of serving – greeting customers when they walk in and initiating first contact – was seen as more respectful. Standing behind a counter was seen as a poor mark of service, regardless of the knowledge that person might possess and be willing to share. 

Despite this apprehension towards the self-service model, customers were, at the same time, excited by the ability that online tools could give them to learn and do in their own time and space. The big opportunity was for our client to design the customer experience across physical, human and digital touch points, thereby ensuring consistency of care.

Designing the full service experience by reframing roles, spaces, tools, and processes 

Together, AGENCY and the client team co-created a portfolio of service experience solutions that included new roles and spaces. The previous customer journey was defined by functional points. After hearing customer stories, we reframed the journey to reflect the experiences customers want to have. We also built a corresponding service principle that would inform the ethos of the service provider at each stage of the customer journey. 

We designed for various touch points, aiming to support consistency of care throughout the whole experience. After rigorous prioritisation, we delivered a prototype of a digital self-service tool to reduce the inconsistent service quality provided by agents. 

Using role-play, Zalo (the Vietnamese equivalent of WeChat) and Microsoft Excel to give real-time responses, we set up the prototype in Vietnamese, taking 13 customers, and 6 agents and customer care officers through the new self-service experience of making a claim.

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Moving Forward

From this prototype, we were able to recommend to our client:

• How and when to use this tool. When the right moment is in the customer journey to introduce a digital self service tool.
• Barriers to adoption. The prototype enabled a deeper exploration into mental models around self-service, providing a framework for further solutions-driven thinking.

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